Brossoit, Iafallo excited to bring their games to Winnipeg

WINNIPEG - Laurent Brossoit and Alex Iafallo will both be wearing Winnipeg Jets jerseys when the puck drops on the 2023-24 season, but the context leading up to their names joining the organization couldn't be more different.

For Brossoit, it's a return to the city that he spent three years from 2018 to 2021, working in tandem with Connor Hellebuyck, to prove himself once again as a high-end goaltender in the National Hockey League.

In Iafallo's case, this is the first time he's ever been traded, and so it will be the first season he wears a jersey in the NHL that doesn't have the Los Angeles Kings logo on the front since he joined the league in 2017.

So while it's a return to a "second home" as Brossoit put it on Tuesday afternoon, or a brand new experience like it is for Iafallo, the Jets made sure their new teammates felt the same welcome.

"I've never been traded before but at the end of the day I'm super excited to be a Jet," said the 29-year-old Iafallo, who received messages from a number of his new teammates, including Neal Pionk - a teammate of Iafallo's from Minnesota-Duluth, and Mark Scheifele.

"Neal is such a great guy. I am pumped to be back playing with him and to hear from him right away, it was definitely good to hear from him," Iafallo said. "I did play with Scheif, growing up when we were really young. We just played spring hockey for a couple years. So I heard from him. It's good to hear from those guys to get some friendships going and get everything going."

As for Brossoit, the goaltender that helped push the Vegas Golden Knights past the Jets in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this past spring, the messages came rolling into his phone pretty quickly as well.

"A bunch of the guys, the guys that I played with when I was there last, they all texted me and seemed to be very happy that I'm coming back, and I'm happy to be back," said Brossoit, adding the playoff series didn't really come up in the congratulatory texts. "I think enough time has passed that it's just texts about the signing."

Speaking of that series, the 30-year-old Brossoit said he holds no ill will toward Jets fans after their playful chant in Game 3.

"I love that part of the game. That's good fun," he smiled. " I think if you're getting chanted like that it's a good thing. Whether it's a positive thing or a negative thing, I think it was funny. You know, water under the bridge for sure."

Even after winning the Stanley Cup with Vegas a couple weeks ago, Brossoit still feels he has a lot to prove, and that he's in the position to do just that.

At this point last summer, he was recovering from surgeries on his hip. The rehabilitation and process to get to game shape mid-season was difficult, but even in the games he played in 2022-23 (23 with Henderson of the American Hockey League, 11 regular season games with Vegas, and eight in the playoffs) he could feel a big difference.

"The left hip it was kind of always inactive. Having that wake up because of those surgeries was a huge step forward in my physiological game," he said. "I was able to start working on things that I've always wanted to work on, little details in the game that I had to just play without. It feels like my game is getting more complete."

He adds that his groin injury, which ended his playoffs, has healed and he expects it to get even stronger as he trains throughout the summer. He's excited about doing what he can to get the Jets back in the playoffs where anything can happen.

"Especially now that I've been away from the organization for a couple years, the story with Winnipeg is that they're very threatening," he said. "There are so many good pieces, the knock has just been the consistency. If we can find that, find some cohesion throughout the year, and find a way that works for us that allows us to have a consistent structure to our game - anything can happen."

Consistency seems to be the calling card for Iafallo's game. The product of Eden, NY has hit double-digits in goals for the past five seasons, hitting a career-high of 17 in both 2019-20 and 2021-22.

The 6'0", 200-pound forward also had four points in six games in the postseason before the Kings were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers for the second straight season.

"Your goal is to win the Cup and win as many games as you can, so that's what I'm going to try to do," said Iafallo. "It was definitely good to talk to (general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff) and to hear their insight about everything. They wanted me and to get traded to a great team, organization, like this, and the fans involved … playing against Winnipeg, going in there, the fans are amazing. It's just a great atmosphere."

Iafallo enjoys the outdoors - in fact, he found out about the trade while camping in the mountains, just a few minutes past Yosemite, to be specific - so he'll fit right into a Jets room with avid fishermen like Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck.

The other aspect of Iafallo's personality that will fit right in? His work ethic.

"You have to take care of your body, you're doing training and all that stuff, but maybe I've realized it's more mental, off the ice, watching video or whatever it may be. Just paying attention to that kind of stuff," he said. "Just growing up, playing hockey, I had a lot of great coaches along the way and leaders. It starts with my parents, just telling me to work hard and everything works out.

"That's what I'm going to try to bring as a Jet."

That's the thing with pro athletes. They're always striving to be better, more consistent, and to prove people wrong.

Iafallo wants to take his career to the next level, and will try to do that in Jets colours.

And even Brossoit, who lifted the Stanley Cup for the first time in his career in late June, is already focused on the next challenge.

"I think I showed a lot of people what I can do, showed myself what I can do this past year. But everyone wants to see a little more of that, a full season," Brossoit said. "That's my goal for this season, to prove to Winnipeg and to prove to everyone and anyone who would value me that I can be one of the best (goalies) in the league."